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.W, F. RICHARDS. ELECTRIC LIGHTING SYSTEMIQR RAILWAY CARS.

No. 604.082. Patented Ma iv, 1898.

QWITNESSESZV n ATTORNEYS.

E A ES wnimno r. noininns, or smr mw YonK, lAssieso n TO cniinrns M; GOULD, or SAME PLACE. I

me e-n6 HITING "SY'SITEM to R jaAirw AY-eAes.

I SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent so, 6o4,'oe2,daea ma raises. I hpplication filed$epten1ber22 ld9'7. serinuaesaa'n. came.) I

ToaZZ 1072 0112, it may concern. 7 I

Be-it known that I, \VILLARD ERICHA'RDS, acitiz'en of the United States, residing at Buf- I falo, in the county of Erie and State of-New a York, havei nvented new and useful Improve- I ments in Electric-Lighting Systems for Railway-Cars, of whichthe following is a specification. I

V This invention relates to an electric-light- Io iug,.-:apparatus for railroad-cars inwhich the "dynamo is driven from the car-axle by a belt I and the dynamo is movable toward and from the driving-axle, so that the belt slips when the speed of the driving-axle exceedsthat' I which is necessary to pr perly drive the dynamo, thereby neutralizing such excess of speed and naintaining a practically uniform normal speed of thefdynamo. An apparatus of this generaLcharacter is described and shown in the application for patent of Preston and Gill, filed February 25, 1895, Serial I X0. 539,613 In this apparatus the dynamo 'is suspended on one side ofits center of-gray ity, and the overhangingweight of the dynamo is utilizedfortightenin g the belt. This one-sided suspension of the dynamo answers well when the dynamo is comparatively small, but is unsuitable for large dynamos, such as are required for furnishing su flicient candlepower Loillumiuate satisfactorilycoaches and chair and sleeping cars of the size ordinarily 'used on American railroads. I One ofthe objects of my invention is to regulatethe adhesion of thedriving-belt irrespective of the weight of the dynamo by airpressure. I

Another object of Lhe'invention is to check by the same meansthe vibrations of the dynamo in coupling. I

0 In its general features the apparatusof this application is similar to that of my application, Serial No. '651,8l0, filed September 16, 1897.

"Like letters of reference refer like parts Y. in the several figures. I I A-is the car-frame; 'A, the floor of. theca-r;

wheels mounted thereon. I

C is the dynamo suspended from'the car; frame, a the armature-shaftshaving the di'iV- ing-pulley c", and D the driving-belt running around the pulley of the armature-shaft and a pulley'D', secured to,the car-axle. E represents parallel suspension-links or hangers which connect the dynamo with a base-plate F, secured to the under side of the car-frame and which are pivoted to this plate and the dynamo by'transversc pins 0, so as 165'" to permit the dynamo to vibrate towardrand from the car-axle. Four of such links are preferably employed, two on each side of the dynamo, one pair being attached to the upper front corners of thedynaino and the other pair to its upper rear corners. I In order to tighten the belt I) sufficiently to drive the dynamo from the car-axleunder I normal conditions, a tension device is I employed, which preferably is also arrangedto 7 5 act as a resistance for opposingor checking the forward swing of the dynamo, caused by the shock of the cars in coupling the same. In the construction" shown ,in thedrawings this tension deviceconsists of anelbow-lever' G, pivoted by a transverse pin g to a bracket of the base-plate]? and havingits short de pending arm connected with the front pair of links or hangers E by links 71 while its long horizontal arin is connected by a rod-i with a piston I, which moves in a vertical cylinder J, secured to the car-frame on the front side of the dynamo. The upward movement of the piston in the cylinder J is checked by a suitable fluid under pressu re, preferably com- 9 o pressed air, which is supplied from the usual I air or storage tank of the air-brakes. The I compressed air is delivered to the cylinder by. I In the accompanying drawings, ltigurel is a pipe in, entering a valve-chamber L, which a sectional side elevation of a-dynaino susis arranged at the top of the cylinder and pended from a car-frame and provided with" communicates therewith by an opening or my improvement. Fig. 2 is ahorizontal secpassage 1, formed in the bottom of the chamtion in line 2 2, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an enlarged her and provided at .its upper end with a. wertical section of the air-cylinder and the valve-seat, as clearly shown in Fig. 3;. VI sol reducingwalve. 'M is an automatic regulating or 'reducing 10o.

B, one of the car-axles, andli' one of the valve applied to the seat at the upperend of I the passage '5 and carried by a flexible diathe valvechamber resists the upward iormod in the floor iiragm n, which extends across the valvechamber and divides the same into a lower main cham her and an upper equalizing-chainber J. The air-inlet pipe his connected with phragm, so that the pressure of the air against the underside of the diaphragm raises or deflects its central portion upwardly, thus open in the valve liL'allowing the air to enter the cylinder and forming-an air-cushion in the upper portion of the cylinder, which checks the upward movement of the piston.

o is a spring which is arranged in the Valvechamber L above the diaphragm n and which deflection of the diaphragm, causing the valve M to act as a reducing-valve, whereby the air-pressure upon the piston is diminished. This spring surrounds: he valvestem between an enlargement or shoulder of the valve and an adjustable screw-plugp, arranged in a screwthreaded opening in the top of the valve-chamber. The adj listing-plug is provided with asquare "or angular upper end adapted to receive a wrench for turning it, and it preferably ex-v tends upward into or through an opening of the car, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, so that the plug can be adjusted from the inside of the car. By adjusting the plug up or-down the resistance of the spring 0 is varied accordingly and the air-pressure upon the piston is regulated correspondingly, the air-pressure being increased as the tension of the spring is diminished and the pressure being reduced as the tension of. the spring is increased, thus changing the tension or resistance of the" air-cushion'in the cylinder in the same measure. I

The adj Listing-plug is provided with a jamnut pand with a vertical socket 192, in which the stem of the reducing-valve is guided.

q is an equalizing port or passage which connects the cylinder J with the portion of the valve-chamber L above the diaphragm n and whereby the pressure above and below the diaphragm is balanced. Upon admitting air to the cylinder the pressure raises the diaphragm and opens the valve, when the air enters the cylinder and also the equalizingrpassage q intothejchamber above. the diaphragm. As soon as the pressure in. the cylinderand said chamber is balanced the spring 0 depresses the diaphragm and clgses the valve.

, The air-pressure in the cylinder will now be equal to the dideronce betWeenthe initial pressurein the supply-pipe and the resistance ofiered by the diaphragm-spring. \Vhen any leakage of air from the cylinder takes place, the loss is followed by a reduction of pressu re in the chamber above the diaphragm as Well as in the cylinder, and the initial pressure now overcomes the resistance of the diaphragm and raises it and opensthe valve, whereupon air enters the cylinderand said chamber until below the flexible dia-' ern or which regulates and equal .ing the he passes through restored, when the spring, owing to thebalancing of the pressure above and belowthe diaphragm, is allowed to again close "the valve. The loss of air is thus restored auto matically.

It will now be understood that the air in the cylinder above the piston, through the medium of the piston, the elbow-lever G, the connecting-links h, and the suspension-links E, tends constantly to move the suspended dynamo backwardly or away from the caraxle from which it is driven; thus acting as a tensioning device which keeps the drivingbelt taut. The motion of the car-axle is trans mitted to the-armaturershat't of the dynamo so long as the speed of the latter remains at or below the normal; but as soon as the spot I rises above the normal by the increased speed of the train the increased pull of the belt resultingtherefrom overcomes the resistance of the tensioning device and draws the dynamo toward the car-axle from which it is driven, thereby slackening the driving-belt, allowing it to slip onthe driving-pulley of the dynamo and permitting the speed of the dynamo to fall to the normal, when the dynamo will again swing away under the force" of the tension device and tighten the belt and so maintain the normal speed and output of the dynamo. The suspended dynamo and its belt thus act as a govand output of the machine, thereby suppl ing a constant current to the electric lamps in the car and producing a steady lightso long as the car remains in motion. By means of the adjusting plug or screw 19 the tension of the driving-belt can be regulated for Ohtaining any'predetermined output of the dynamo. I lIn coupling cars provided with this lighting apparatus the oscillations of the dynamo are reduced to a minimum, as the movement of the dynamo is restrained in one direction by the driving-belt and in the opposite direction by the air-pressure device. The latter holds the dynamo-pulley of the belt and prevents the pulley from leavlt to suchan extent that the belt can run oit" or can be injured by the pulley striking the belt on resuming. its normal position.

The air-pressure device produces the desired pressure against the belt irrespective of, the weight of the dynamo, which latter can be made as light as circumstances will permit, and enables the necessary pressure to be produced with a pressure device of comparatively small sizeand and weight of the lig ting apparatus are con'' siderablyreduced, which are important items in an apparatus attached to a railroad-car.

The upper arm of the elbo w-lever G is preferably considerably longer than its lower irrnsay twiceas longas shown. By thus proportioning the arms of the imrm- Hm mnfrom the driving-pulley IIO izes the speed Ioo snugly in the bight 11 I weight, whereby the size:

siondevice has an advantageous leverage over the dynamo in adjusting the tension of the, drivingbelt, while the dynar'n'don the other hand,has an unfavorable leverage over the tension device in swinging forward from: the shock of the cars in coupling.

The conducting-Wires, switches, and other accessoi'ies 6f the car-lighting system, are not I shown in the drawings, as they form no parti fi'" of my invention. 4, y

I claim as my invention,-

1. The combination with the driving-aide provided with'a pulley, a dynamo provided with a pulley and capable of movement toward andfrom the driving-axle and a driv-. ing belt applied to said pulleys, of afiuidpressure mechanism which is connected with the movable dynamo and by'which the same is pressed away from the driving-axle to.

tighten the belt, while the dynamo is drawn.

" toward the axle by an excessive speed of the pressure ismaintained,substantially as set belt, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination withthe driving-axle provided with a galley, a' dynamo provided with a .pulley an capable of movement to- ,Wardand from the driving-axle, and a driving-belt applied to said: pulleys, of a fluidpressure mechanism which is connected with p i the movable dynamo and by which the same is pressed away from the driving-axle to tighten the belt and which is provided with a pressure-equalizer by which a uniform fluidforth. I I

h 3. The coixibihation witl uthe' driving-axle with a pulley and capable of movement toward and from the driving-axle, and a driv ing-belt appliedto said pulleys, of acylinder and'piston'ada'p'ted to receive fluid-pressure press thesame awayfrom the driving-axle, a

andan equalizing-passage connecting thecyl-t inder with said chamber, substantially as set forth.

between the cylinder and said diaphragm, a

the cylinder, and an equalizing-passage, connecting' the cylinder with the portion of the valve-chamber above or iii rear of said dia- .phragm, substantially as set forth.

Witness my'hand this 18th day of her, 1897. a

Septem-' WIL ARDF. RICHARDS.

Witnesses: A

J ve. J. BONNER,

ELLA R; DEAN.

provided with a pulley, a dynamoprovi'ded.

reducing-valve controlled by said diaphragm V and governing the admission of the fluid into and apply it to the movable dyn'amoand t0 valve-chamber-connected with said cylinder, v v a reducing-valve arranged in said chamber, 

